Herd is perhaps best known for his role in the science fiction mini-series V and V: The Final Battle. He is also known for starring opposite William Shatner in the 1980s police drama T.J. Hooker, for playing Admiral Noyce on the series SeaQuest DSV, and for his recurring role as Mr. Wilhelm on the hit sitcom Seinfeld. At one point, Herd was the 3rd National Vice-President of the Screen Actors Guild.

Contents

Herd was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He began acting in high school and participated in a two-year apprenticeship-acting program with the Boston Summer Stock Theater. After graduating from high school, Herd enlisted in the Army, serving for less than a year in 1953 and receiving a discharge as a private.

He made his film debut playing an athletics coach in the cult 1970 fantasy comedy Hercules in New York, which also marked the film debut of Arnold Schwarzenegger. His breakthrough role came in the 1976 Academy award-winning film All the President's Men. Stephen Collins, Nicholas Coster, Paul Lambert, Gene Dynarski and F. Murray Abraham also had roles in this film. Incidentally, Herd previously appeared with Abraham in an episode of Kojak the previous year.

Herd and the aforementioned Christopher Lloyd again worked together in the 1980 horror film Schizoid, which also starred Marianna Hill and Craig Wasson. That same year, Herd was seen as Brigadier General Foley in the hit comedy film Private Benjamin. Lilyan Chauvin, Alan Oppenheimer, and Keone Young had roles in this film, as well.

One of Herd's best-known roles is that of Police Captain Dennis Sheridan, whom he played for three seasons on the television series T.J. Hooker, which starred William Shatner in the title role. James Darren was a regular on this series, as well. Some of the directors Herd worked with on this series included Corey Allen, Cliff Bole, Winrich Kolbe, Leonard Nimoy (who also made a guest appearance on the show), and even Shatner himself.

Outside of Star Trek, Herd is also well known for his role in NBC's 1983 science fiction mini-series V, in which he played John, the Visitors' Supreme Commander. He reprised this role in the 1984 sequel, V: The Final Battle. Both of these projects starred DS9 guest actors Michael Durrell and Andrew Prine. V: The Final Battle starred TNG and VOY guest star Mark L. Taylor and TNG/DS9 guest star Dick Miller.

Since his role on V, Herd has made appearances on several well-known science fiction shows, including Quantum Leap with Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. He made several appearances as Admiral Noyce on the sci-fi series seaQuest DSV alongside other Trek guest stars such as Stephanie Beacham, Rosalind Ingledew, and Marco Sanchez. Herd even reunited with his T.J. Hooker co-star William Shatner in the "Hide and Seek" episode of seaQuest DSV. Some of Herd's other genre roles include guest spots on Beauty and the Beast (starring Ron Perlman) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (with Willie Garson).

On television, Herd portrayed Calvin Kleeger in two 1984 episodes of the primetime soap opera Falcon Crest, on which Robert Foxworth was a regular. Foxworth also directed Herd's first episode. In between airings of his two Falcon Crest episodes, Herd was seen on Hardcastle and McCormick, which starred Brian Keith and Daniel Hugh Kelly in the title roles. Herd returned to the series in 1985, in an episode with Charles Rocket. That same year, Herd appeared on The A-Team, the action-adventure series which starred Dwight Schultz.